CROSS COUNTRY

Men's Cross Country Picked to Finish Ninth in Preseason Poll

MISENHEIMER, N.C. - The Pfeiffer University men’s cross country team has been voted to finish in a ninth-place tie in the 2013 Conference Carolinas, the league announced on Thursday.

The new-look Falcons feature a roster of six incoming freshmen, which Head Coach Scott Nolt indicated was one of the better hauls during his tenure.

“We have a solid group of returners but this freshmen group is the best that I have brought in,” said Nolt. “We are going to rely on a solid core of runners and have a deep team this year. We will also rely heavily on our captains to provide leadership.”

Those captains are Cody Jones and Cody Bivens and both are battle-tested seniors. The Falcons will need to replace their top runner, Will Oliver, from a season ago but have a hard-working group who are ready for the challenge.

Mount Olive, who are ranked 21st in this year’s USTFCCCA Pre-Season Poll, are predicted to finish first. The Trojans went on to place second in the NCAA II Southeast Regional and advanced to the NCAA Division II National Championship for the second year in a row in 2012.

Trailing Mount Olive are King and Belmont Abbey with North Greenville and Limestone rounding out the top five. Pfeiffer received 18 points in the vote, the same total as Lees-McRae.

Conference Carolinas Men’s Cross Country Pre-Season Poll (# of First Place Votes in Parenthesis)